Tuesday, 30 June 2015

The rejection of a three-year pay deal and improvements to sick pay terms means the on-going strike ballot will continue

Dockers at the Port of Liverpool have this morning turned down a pay offer from their employer Blue Arrow at a mass meeting.

The rejection of a three-year pay deal and improvements to sick pay terms means that the on-going threat of strike action will continue.

The pay offer had been recommended by trade union Unite to its 195 Port of Liverpool workers last week, but more than 100 dockers turned it down by a show of hands at an early morning meeting at Seaforth. One docker who was there said there was a clear majority against accepting the offer.

The docker told the ECHO today that the proposed pay offer had been rejected because the workforce did not like the three-year duration of the deal.

Trade union leaders will now re-open discussions with the dockers’ employer Blue Arrow about further changes to the pay offer.

A spokesman for Unite said: “It did not meet our members’ expectations.”

Dockers have also previously said that a sticking point was the company’s plan to limit claims for sick pay to three weeks. Last week’s offer from Blue Arrow included paying sick pay for up to 12-weeks.

Unite is expected to announce the outcome of last week’s strike ballot later today.

Monday, 29 June 2015

After announcing its decision on Friday to withdraw from the Europe-West Africa trade, Japanese ocean carrier MOL said it would continue to serve the West African market from Asia.

This is despite the fact that this trade is also facing great challenges and suffered a 12% year-on-year volume decline in April.

Its last southbound vessel, the 2,600 teu Atlantic Voyager, is scheduled to depart Antwerp on August 3, with its final northbound sailing departing Tema on August 29.

“Our decision was inspired by the poor financial results of our Europe-West Africa service and the fact that, based on the present market outlook and cost exposure, conditions for an improvement of the results are not favourable,” the company said.

The sharp drop in in oil prices has hit the economies of African nations, such as Nigeria, that depend heavily on oil exports for revenue, and with commodity prices for iron ore, copper, rubber and cotton also plunging, a recent report by the World Bank predicted a “challenging year” for the continent.

According to the latest analysis from Drewry Maritime Research, the headhaul Asia-West Africa trade made a “stuttering start” to 2015, after recording healthy growth of 7% in 2014.

However, volumes shrank by 4% in the first four months of the year to approximately 410,000 teu.

Container Trade Statistics’ (CTS) data supplied to Drewry show that in April southbound trade volume was 12% down on the same month of 2014, at 107,000 teu. However, this was not nearly so bad as March, which saw a massive 29% year-on-year slump in the headhaul traffic.

In response to weakening demand on the route, carriers have slashed capacity southbound from 203,000 teu in February to 178,000 slots in April, said Drewry, by skipping a number of voyages.

The deteriorating demand picture has also forced container lines to reconsider their business strategy of upgrading the size of ships deployed on the trade.

According to Drewry data, although blanked sailings have helped to boost average ship utilisation levels on the southbound route – from just 45% in March to 60% in April – the capacity cull has failed to arrest the continual decline in spot rates, which plunged from almost $4,500 per 40 ft in May 2014, to less than $2,500 per 40 ft a year later.

On the major east-west shipping lanes this year, carriers have been largely unsuccessful in implementing general rate increases (GRI), and the Asia-West Africa market has brought equally bad times for ocean carriers.

Drewry noted that a $600 per teu GRI planned for June 1 had been postponed until July 1, but said it “was unlikely” it would be entirely successful, given that “very little has changed in the interim”.

This all seems a far cry from the TOC West Africa briefing held in Tenerife in December, when delegates expressed concern at the worsening levels of port congestion blighting the region and the ability of the container terminals to cope with the cascading of larger tonnage onto the trades.

Drewry’s analysis concluded: “The demand outlook for this trade has quickly deteriorated and is unlikely to reverse course in the short term.”

Southbound - Europe to West Africa

Ports of Loading

Tangiers

Algeciras

London Gateway

Hamburg

Antwerp

Algeciras

--

--

4

6

8

Tangiers

--

1

5

7

9

Dakar*

5

9

13

15

14

Tincan

10

11

15

17

19

Tema

15

16

20

22

24

Abidjan

18

19

23

25

27

Northbound - West Africa to Europe

Ports of Discharge

Antwerp

Hamburg

London Gateway

Algeciras

Tangiers

Tangiers

6

12

14

-

-

Abidjan

12

14

16

21

22

Tema

15

17

19

24

25

Tincan

18

20

22

27

28

Dakar

20

22

24

29

30

ARN Port Rotation

Origin

ETA/ETD

Antwerp

(Sun/Mon)

Hamburg

(Tue/Wed)

London Gateway

(Thu/Fri)

Algeciras

(Tue/Wed)

Tangiers

(Wed/Wed)

Tincan

(Sat/Wed)

Tema

(Thu/Sat)

Abidjan

(Sun/Tue)

Antwerp

(Sun)

Friday, 26 June 2015

MOL discontinuing participation in the Europe – West Africa Trade

It is with deep regret that we inform you that we have decided to discontinue our participation in the Europe – West Africa Trade. Our aforementioned decision is inspired by the poor financial results of our Europe - West Africa service and the fact that based on the present market outlook and cost exposure conditions for an improvement of the results are not favorable.

Below you can find an overview of the final MOL Europe-West Africa sailings:

Southbound

ARN: Mv. Atlantic Voyager 012A

ETD Antwerp, 3rd of August 2015

ARX: Mv. Dimitris C 03181S

ETD Antwerp, 31st of July 2015

Northbound

ARN: Mv. Atlantic Voyager 012B

ETD Tema, 29th of August 2015

ARX: Mv. Dimitris C 03281N

ETD Abidjan, 22nd August 2015

Our above decision does not do away with our commitment and believe in the West African market. Therefore we will continue with the development of our Asia-West Africa products and the development of the MOL organization within West Africa.

We would like to thank you for your support and apologize for any inconvenience our decision may cause.

If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact your local sales office. Contact details can be found on our website www.molpower.com.

Sunday, 28 June 2015

Here's the last of this series from Shipping TV - 5th and final part of our unique NORTH SEA RO-RO series, filmed aboard DFDS Seaways ferries Suecia Seaways and Selandia Seaways, operating between Felixstowe and Rotterdam. This time: into Felixstowe and onto the berth:

An infographic released by the International Transport Forum (ITF) in its ‘Real Impacts of Mega-ships’ report shows the berth productivity of global ports in 2014.

In the infographic, Panama and Mexico lead the way for berth productivity in the West, while Shanghai and Shenzhen dominate the East with peak productivity. These top performing parts of the world have been able to move between 120 and 167 containers per hour per ship.

Mega Containerships Kept Longer at Ports

Port of Jebel Ali

Berth productivity on mega-container ships slipped in 2014 on a global basis, underscoring the continuing challenges that ports, terminals and container lines are facing in combating congestion and delays at major seaports around the world, according to US-based market analyst IHS Inc.

The number of total containers loaded, off-loaded and re-stowed per hour on mega-container ships of 13,000 TEUs and greater dipped to 116 in 2014 from 118 in 2012 and 2013, the company’s productivity data shows.

The dip has been attributed to the lack of improvement in berth productivity keeping ships longer in port, forcing other vessels to wait at anchor, creating delays in the transfer of containers between feeder and line-haul ships, and forcing carriers to speed up — and burn more fuel — to maintain schedules.

The issue of lengthy port stay times on the largest container ships is becoming a growing concern for container lines seeking to cut costs and operate efficiently, and for exporters experiencing chronic delays in their supply chains.

Ports in Asia and the Middle East continue to achieve the highest productivity, IHS data shows.

Globally, the United Arab Emirates’ port of Jebel Ali moved into the number one ranking, with 131 container moves per hour in 2014, up from 119 in 2013.

China’s ports of Tianjin and Qingdao held their number two and three positions, with 127 and 126 average moves per hour, respectively.

Among terminals, APM Terminals Yokohama and Tianjin Port Pacific International Container Terminal held their positions as numbers one and two while China’s Qingdao Qianwan Container Terminal moved up to number three, averaging 136 containers moved per ship, per hour.